1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a memory card having a controller and storage cells, and a method of controlling the memory card. For example, it relates to a memory card which performs writing, reading and erase of data by access from a host apparatus, a controller mounted on the memory card, and a method of controlling the memory card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, in various portable electronic apparatuses such as personal computers, PDAs, cameras, and mobile phones, memory cards which are one kind of removable memory devices are widely used. Among memory cards, there are cards which do not have a controller but only have a NAND type flash memory. The conventional NAND type flash memory generally has a small erase block size in erase set to, for example, 16 kbytes.
In the meantime, as NAND type flash memory mounted on memory cards, inexpensive NAND type flash memories having a large capacity and a large erase block size in erase have been used. In the NAND type flash memories, the erase block size is set to, for example, 256 kbytes. Therefore, if the host apparatus accesses the memory card on the assumption that the memory is a NAND type flash memory having a small erase block size, the memory card having a NAND type flash memory having a large erase block size cannot properly respond to the access, and this causes a malfunction. The term “erase block size” indicates a data size which is erased at once in erase in a NAND type flash memory.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Pub. No. 2002-259322 discloses a memory system having a plurality of kinds of memory chips and a memory controller that controls the memory chips, wherein one memory controller enables access to the plurality of kinds of memory chips.